3,956 BBY
by Kebiin
Summary: What do you get when you put two soldiers, a Mandalorian merc, three jedi, a Twi'lek, her Wookie companion, a utility droid, and an assassin droid together? Explosions, bickering, hilarious droid commentary, more explosions... you know, uber-awesomeness.
1. Chapter 1

This is another KOTOR story that I thought it would be fun to write. It's basically me making fun of a few things that happened during my first time playing the game (although it was with the female Revan). If this turns out okay, I might write another one from her perspective. I don't own KOTOR or anything.

* * *

Victor pulled his blanket over his head to drown out the noise that had interrupted his dream. He was about to go back to sleep when the room began to shake. He sat up and got ready to get out of bed when the room shook again. This time, it shook with enough force to dump him off of his bunk and onto the floor, causing him to hit his head on the footlocker next to the bed. He sat up just in time to see a blonde haired man run into the room.

"The Endar Spire is under attack!" He cried, "We've been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold them off."

"What the crap's an Endar Spire?" Victor demanded as he rubbed the back of his head.

The man looked confused for a moment. "Did you fall out of your bed and hit your head or something?" He asked before answering Victor's question. "The Endar Spire is the ship that you're currently stationed on…**this ship**. You probably don't even know who I am do you?"

"No."

"I'm Trask Ulgo. I'm your bunkmate here on the Endar Spire. We work opposite shifts, so that's probably why you've never seen me before." The man explained.

"That's stupid." Victor grunted.

Trask's eyes narrowed a bit. "You're stupid."

Victor crossed his arms. "Your logic is stupid…and so are you."

"Why is my logic stupid?"

"Because you come in here asking if I know who you are, then you turn around and explain to me why I don't know who you are. You knew I didn't know you to start with!" Victor yelled. The ship shook again.

Suddenly, Trask remembered what he'd come to warn Victor about. "Hurry up- We don't have much time. We have to find Bastila and make sure that she gets off the ship alive. Get your gear and let's go."

"Who's Bastila?" Victor asked as he stood up.

"Bastila's the commanding officer of the Endar Spire. Well, she's not exactly the commanding officer, but she is in charge of this mission. We all swore an oath to protect her and make sure that this mission goes smoothly, so come on." Trask answered. He watched Victor try to open the door only to find it locked.

"The door's locked." Trask announced cheerfully.

Victor turned to face him. "Why's it locked?" He growled, growing more frustrated by the second.

Trask shrugged. "Well, when we're under attack, the ship enters lockdown mode. Don't worry. You don't have the codes to open it, but I do."

"So you knew I couldn't open it." Victor responded. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah."

"And you stood there and watched me struggle without saying anything." Another statement from a very frustrated Victor.

"Yep." Trask stood there with a stupid look on his face and glanced at his watch. "We **really** need to go now._"_

Victor's eye began to twitch. "WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO DO?" he yelled as he walked back over to the footlocker, gathered his stuff, and shoved it into his equipment pack. Meanwhile, Trask opened the door and waited. Victor glared at him as he stepped into the hallway. The two men ran about halfway down the hall before being stopped by Trask's communicator. A message came through: "_This is Carth Onasi. I'm requesting all hands to the bridge. We can't hold out much longer against the Sith attack."_

The transmission ended and Trask looked at Victor. "That was Carth Onasi requesting all hands to the bridge. He needs our help." He said.

Victor simply stared at him, wondering how much trouble he'd be in if he beat Trask to death with his viroblade. They opened the door at the end of the hall and ran into more Sith. They battled their way to the bridge only to find it empty except for the bodies of a few Republic soldiers. Trask's communicator came on again. It was Carth: "_Bastila's escape pod has already been launched. Now that she's away, there's nothing stopping the Sith from turning the Endar Spire into galactic dust. You two get to the escape pods. I'll wait for you as long as I can."_

Trask looked at Victor. "Tha-"

"NO! _DON'T…_ say it." Victor walked to another door on the other side of the bridge, stepping over the bodies as he went. It opened into another hallway. There was one door at the end of the hall, and another to the left. Trask ran over to the door at the end of the hall.

"There's something behind here." He announced as he opened the door. It slid open to reveal a man with a scarlet lightsaber. "Oh no! Another dark Jedi!" Trask cried. The dark Jedi took a few steps forward.

"I hate you Trask."

"I'll hold him off." Trask stated heroically.

"You knew he was there BEFORE YOU OPENED THE DOOR TRASK!" Victor yelled.

"Don't worry about me. Just get to the Starboard Section of the ship."

"Am I supposed to know where that is?" Victor asked.

Trask pointed to the door that they just passed.

"You **knew** that's where we were supposed to go? Why would you…YOU'RE AN IDIOT TRASK!"

Trask turned and ran into the room where the dark Jedi was patiently waiting to kill him. "FOR THE REPUBLIC!" he yelled as the door closed, locking Victor out.

Victor felt bad until he remembered that Trask had brought it on himself. He ran to the Starboard Section only to find his path blocked by two more Sith soldiers and another door. He'd found a stealth generator in the footlocker and decided to try it out. Once activated, it allowed him to easily slip by the two men. The door wasn't as much of a headache as he thought it would be. It just slid right open. Unfortunately, it was the door behind that one that would be a problem. He ran up to it and found it locked.

_What do I do now? _He wondered as he looked around the room. He noticed a computer terminal next to a broken droid and decided to check it out. The terminal provided a video feed from the next room. Victor was able to count at least six more Sith guards waiting to ambush the next person to enter the room. He found an option in the system to overload the power conduit in the room. He saw no reason why he shouldn't, so he pressed the button. The screen returned to the video feed in time for Victor to see the conduit explode and shock the guards who fell over in unison. Victor unlocked the door and began checking the bodies for weapons and anything else that could be of use. The ship shook again, reminding him that he needed to get to the escape pods. He ran through the next doorway and found Carth Onasi standing by the escape pod bay.

"You made it! You and I are the last surviving crew members. We've got to go." Carth said as he pushed Victor toward the last escape pod. They got in and launched the pod. Moments later, the Endar Spire became one with the galaxy… or a billion teeny tiny particles with the galaxy. Whatever.

* * *

Well, there it is. I hope my grammar and punctuation isn't too bad. haha. I'm having issues today. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hopefully this chapter turned out okay. I had trouble getting back into the mood to write due to my...issues with the game. :) Oh well.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**The Crash. Define Stupid. Upper City South.**

The escape pod bounced violently along the surface of the planet. When it came to a halt, the hatch opened and Carth crawled out. Victor, who had not been told that the pod had restraining belts and probably wouldn't have put one on if he had known, ended up hitting his head as the pod bounced around. He lay slumped over the seat. Carth ended up dragging him to a nearby apartment.

**A few days later….**

Victor tossed and turned in his sleep. Victor tossed and turned in his sleep. He had a dream about an intense battle between some young woman and a cloaked figure. Victor sat up and looked around, unable to make sense of his surroundings. He was startled by a voice.

"Good to see you up, instead of thrashing around in your sleep. You must have been having quite a nightmare." A man said.

Victor looked at the man. "Nightmare?" He asked.

"Yeah…unless you just do this," the man began making faces and yelling, "in your sleep…." He paused. "I'm Carth, one of the Republic soldiers from the _Endar Spire_. I was with you on the escape pod, do you remember?" Carth asked.

"Carth…Carth…Oh! _Carth!_ From the _Endar Spire_?" Victor began.

Carth looked relieved that Victor had retained at least some of his memories.

"Nope, doesn't ring a bell. Sorry." Victor deadpanned.

"Bu- Wha- But you ju-" Carth sputtered, the sense of relief vanishing.

"Sorry man. I don't even know where I am or how I got here." Victor added calmly.

Carth looked a little worried, but ignored the previous statement for the time being. "Well you _have _been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple days now, so I imagine you're pretty confused about things. Try not to worry. We're safe…at least for the moment." He said.

"For the moment?" Victor asked. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

Carth nodded and shrugged. "Well, there's gotta be some danger lurking somewhere right?"

Victor frowned. "Would you have any objections to me beating you to death with…," he paused and looked around, "that foot locker?"

"…But why?"

"Seriously? 'There's gotta be some danger lurking somewhere' What kind of crap is that?"

Carth then looked a little disturbed, but decided to continue. "We're in an abandoned apartment on the planet of Taris. You were banged up pretty bad when our escape pod crashed, but fortunately, I wasn't seriously hurt. I was able to drag you away from our crash site and in all the confusion, I stumbled onto this abandoned apartment. By the time the Sith showed up, we were long gone." Carth explained.

"Well," Victor began "I guess I owe you one. Thanks."

"No problem. I've never abandoned anyone on a mission before. No point in starting now. Besides, I need your help."

"Oh _that's_ how it is…"

"Will you shut up and listen? Taris is under Sith control. They've declared martial law and imposed a planet-wide quarantine. If we want to get off this planet, we have to find Bastila ourselves."

Victor looked puzzled for a moment. "Bastila... Wait! She's the one from the _Endar Spire_ right?"

Carth looked really worried. "That smack to your head did more damage than I thought. Bastila's a Jedi. She was with the strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak's Sith master. Bastila-"

Victor interrupted him. "Who's Darth Revan?"

"Only the most evil being in the entire galaxy." Carth stated nonchalantly. "Now where was I? Oh yeah! Bastila's the key to the entire war effort and stuff. The Sith must have found out about her being on the _Endar Spire_ and set an ambush for us in this system."

"But how can one person be so important?" Victor asked.

"Cause she's a Jedi. Duh!" Carth answered.

"Yeah, but there are lots of Jedi. What makes her so special?"

"Oh…well, she does this really cool thing called Battle Meditation."

"What does that do?"

"Her power can influence entire armies. She can strengthen the morale of her allies and make her enemies lose the will to fight. "

"Cool. So how does it work?" Victor asked.

Carth began to get frustrated. "I dunno. It's some really cool Jedi-ish, Force-fueled method that she uses to make it work OKAY?"

"Oh. Thanks." Victor deadpanned. "It's all so clear to me now."

Carth had to laugh. "Good. Look, Bastila's going to need our help. The planet may be infested with Sith, but no one's going to be looking for a couple of common soldiers like us, so we can move around without attracting attention. That's a luxury Bastila won't have. She'll have half the Sith fleet looking for her."

"Right. So the sooner you stop standing around talking, the sooner we can start looking for her. The sooner we start looking for her, the sooner we can find her and get going."

"We can use this apartment as a base and supplies can be found here in Upper City. Just remember to keep a low profile. I've heard some scary things about Dark Jedi interrogation techniques. They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away memories and destroy your very identity." Carth stated darkly. He paused. "But, if we don't do anything stupid like bother random Sith officers, we'll be fine. They aren't looking for us anyhow. Alright, soldier, let's move out" he added cheerily.

Victor walked over to the footlocker and grabbed a few medpacs and computer spikes before heading for the door. As they opened the door and stepped out, they saw a Sith soldier and a couple of battle droids harassing aliens in the hall.

"Okay you alien scum, everybody get up against the wall! This is a raid!" The soldier yelled.

Victor looked at the two Duros who were referred to as everybody. _I hope this isn't his idea of a lot of people._ He thought.

One of the Duros spoke up. "There was a patrol here just yesterday, and they found nothing! Why do you Sith keep bothering us?"

The soldier promptly fired a few rounds of blaster fire into the alien. "That's how we Sith deal with smart-mouth aliens!" He said smugly. "Now the rest of you get up against the wall before I lose my temper again."

Victor walked up and tapped the soldier on the shoulder before punching him in the face. The soldier staggered a bit. "What's this?" He asked. "Humans hiding out with aliens? They're Republic fugitives! Attack!" he ordered. The two droids swung around and began firing at Carth and Victor. The soldier attacked the other Duros. Victor and Carth made short work of the battle droids before going to aid the Duros. The soldier didn't stand a chance against them. After things settled down, the Duros spoke.

"Poor Ixgil. He shouldn't have talked back to that Sith. I'm glad you were able to step in and help us, human. This isn't the first time that they've bothered us, but maybe it will be the last."

Victor nodded. "No problem," he said, "but won't someone come looking for this patrol?"

The Duros looked at the bodies. "Don't worry. I'll move them so it looks like they were killed elsewhere. That should throw the Sith off track." He began dragging the soldier's body off, leaving a thin trail of blood behind.

"Oh yeah," Victor muttered, "that'll throw them off"

Carth grabbed Victor by the arm. "Remember that talk we had about not doing anything stupid?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Carth stared at him incredulously. "Okay, maybe we need to define stupid so we're both on the same page. That…" he jerked a thumb in the direction of the skirmish, "was stupid."

"But I couldn't just let that guy kill him."

"But you can't go putting this mission in danger by-"

"Look, I'll be more careful okay?"

"Right..."

The two men continued their walk in silence. They finally reached the door leading out of the apartment complex and into Upper City. It was early in the morning. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a soft orange glow onto the city's buildings. There were quite a few citizens and the occasional Sith trooper out and about. Victor noticed that Carth seemed a little distant. Normally, he wouldn't have asked anything. He just wasn't the type to go asking everyone about their personal problems, but this wasn't exactly a normal situation. After all, he was stuck with the guy, so he might as well talk to him.

"Uhh…so…what's your background story?" _Yep, _he thought, _The idea was stupid, the question came out stupid. I sure hope the answer isn't stupid._

"Me?"

_Veeerry promising beginning…joy. _Victor thought.

"Well, I've been a star-pilot for the Republic for years. I fought in the Mandalorian Wars before all this started. It was rough, but I've never seen anything like what these Sith animals can unleash. Not even the Mandalorians were that senseless. My home world was one of the first to be bombed into submission and there wasn't a single thing our Republic forces could do about it. I dunno…let's just focus on our current situation for the time being."

Victor nodded solemnly. "Sure."

They continued walking. Just as they were about to pass into the northern section of the city, they say two bounty hunters hassling and old man.

"Davik says you missed your last payment." The first bounty hunter said.

"Davik doesn't like you missing payments!" The second chimed in.

The old man's voice shook. He looked desperate. "Here-I've got 50 credits! A- a down payment. That should buy me some time right?"

"Wrong!" The first bounty hunter snapped. "You're all out of time old man."

The old man took a step back. "But I don't have that much! How can I give you credits that I don't have?"

The bounty hunted shrugged. "That's too bad. Davik will want to make an example out of you. Come with us."

The old man took a few more steps back. His eyes widened in terror. "No- Help! Someone help! They'll kill me!" he screamed.

Carth turned to Victor. "I know we have to be careful, but we can't just let them drag this guy off." He whispered.

Victor smiled. "My thoughts exactly… minus the cautionary part." He whispered back.

The bounty hunter heard him and turned around. "Hold on a second. Looks like we've got ourselves witness."

"Davik doesn't like witnesses." The second bounty hunter added.

The dumb one, who had a knack for stating the obvious and apparently knew everything that Davik disliked, was really starting to get on Victor's nerves. "Leave this man alone!" he warned.

The first bounty hunter laughed. "Guess we'll have to teach you to mind your own business!" The bounty hunter said as he pulled out his blaster and fired a couple rounds. Victor dodged them and attacked the man with his vibroblade. The bounty hunter fell to the ground. His companion followed suit thanks to a few rounds from Carth's blasters.

The old man spoke again. "Thank you- I owe you my life! They would have killed me." He sighed. "My wife warned me not to take a loan from Davik. Now I can't pay him back. Crime lords like that will just keep sending more bounty hunters until I'm dead."

Victor nodded "Maybe I can help."

The old man smiled weakly. "You've already helped by saving me, but unless you have 100 credits to give me so I can pay Davik off, there's nothing else you can do."

Victor rummaged through the various pockets on his vest and found what he was looking for. He held a handful of credit chips out to the man. "Here."

The old man looked stunned. "You're giving me 100 credits? Just like that? I…I don't know what to say! Thank you! Now I can pay off Davik. You've saved my life! Thank you! I'm going to take these to Davik right away." The old man practically skipped away.

Victor turned to Carth, who was looking at him. "What?"

"You just gave him 100 credits. That's pretty generous."

Victor shrugged. "He needed it." He walked over to the bodies of the two bounty hunters and searched their pockets. He stood up and smiled. "126 credits." He stuffed them in his pocket. This earned a glare from Carth.

"What?"

"Let's just go." Carth growled.

* * *

I hope Victor's personality stayed fairly consistent...for that matter, Carth's too. Haha.


	3. Chapter 3

I apologize for being a bit vauge with most of my descriptions of characters/places and stuff like that. I plan to work on that in coming chapters. I guess my problem is that I'm ready to get off Taris. The game is much more fun once they get to Dantooine. :D

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Down We Go!**

By the time the two men had crossed into the northern section of the city, Carth still hadn't said much.

"You still sore about those credits?" Victor asked.

"Maybe." Carth replied.

"Why? They're dead. The credits won't do them any good. Besides, I don't see you coming up with a better way."

"Dueling ring." Carth said simply.

"What?"

"The Dueling ring. You fight in the ring, and the Hutt pays his fighters credits." He explained.

"Oh…that sounds like a good idea."

"Good, so as soon as we finish our business in the Undercity, we'll check it out. I believe there's an elevator somewhere in this section of the city. It should take us to the Lower City."

"Alright. Let's go."

Carth took the lead since he knew where the elevator was located. As they walked through the mass of people and protocol droids that filled the streets, they were stopped by a group of drunks. The first man turned to his friends.

"Wasssh thish planet coming to, huh?" He paused long enough to hiccup. "Shlummies jusht walkin' around the Upper City!"

The second man addressed Victor. "Shouldn't you go back to the Lower City where you belong, shlummie?"

At this point, Carth chimed in. "Well this is rich," he chuckled.

None of the drunk guys heard him. The third man spoke up. "Yeah, like he shhaaid, these streets are for deh Upper City citizens! You better get out of our way if you know what's good for you."

"You'd better think twice about what you're doing." Victor warned. "This might be more than you can handle."

The first drunk looked at his companions again. "Uhhh… c'mon fellash. This shlummie ain't worth the bother."

The second man agreed. "Uhhh…yeah. I gueeshh you're right. Maybe nesht time shlummie. Com-" He was interrupted by a hiccup that forced its way out. "Come on fellash, lessh go."After they stopped running into each other, the tipsy trio staggered away.

Victor smiled. "Nice guys, eh?"

Carth nodded. "Yeah. Great." He laughed.

As they walked further down the street, they heard an old man speaking loudly. "The evil walks among us! The enemy is here!" he said. "We must act now before we are overrun with the vermin invaders!"

"What's he talking about?" Victor asked Carth.

"I get the feeling we don't want to know…. Ah. There it is. I knew it was around here somewhere."

"Elevator?"

"Yep."

They approached the elevator and tried to use it only to be stopped by a Sith guard in uniform.

"This elevator is off limits. Only Sith patrols and those with proper authorization are allowed into the Lower City." he paused. "It's obvious from the way you're dressed that you aren't one of the Sith patrols, so unless you have the proper authorization papers, you must move along!"

"Where can I get these papers?" Victor asked.

"If you were supposed to have them, you'd know where to get them. Now stop wasting my time and move along!" the guard snapped.

Victor made a move to leave, but thought of something else. "Hey, can I ask you a few questions?" He was pretty sure the man rolled his eyes behind his helmet.

"I'm not here to give you information! I work for the Sith, not the Taris tourist board! Now move along!"

"Alright, alright" Victor said as he began walking off.

"That went well." Carth commented cheerily.

"Sure did." Victor returned.

"Let's go grab a drink and discuss our next plan for failure." Carth suggested.

"Sounds good to me."

The two soldiers walked back to the Southern section of the city. Victor followed Carth into the cantina. Just inside the door, a large group of people were standing around the table. Victor and Carth walked over to check it out.

"What's going on?" Carth asked.

"Pazaak game." One of the patrons muttered.

By this time, Victor had made his way into the main lobby, speaking to various patrons as he went. One woman stopped him as he tried to walk past.

"Hi there," she said "haven't seen you around before. Of course they don't give us Sith officers from the military base much time off."

Victor was surprised at that comment. "You're from the military base?" he asked. "You don't look like one of the Sith."

The woman chuckled. "Well, I'm off duty right now, so I'm not in uniform." She explained. "My name is Sarna— Junior Officer First Class with the Sith Occupation Force." She extended a hand.

Victor shook it. "Victor. No cool title." He joked. "Just Victor. Nice to meet you." He was about to walk away when Sarna started talking again.

"You know, I'm actually a little surprised that you're talking to me at all…most people here on Taris can't stand us Sith. It can make the job pretty lonely." she said.

Victor nodded. "Yeah well, I'm not exactly from Taris. I'm just stuck here until the quarantine ends."

"You're an off-worlder? I'd figure you'd be even angrier, being stuck on a foreign planet and all."

"Nah, it's not so bad as long as you can find something to keep yourself occupied." He said. _I've got plenty in that department…. _He thought.

"Yeah, but the locals aren't much fun. It's like everyone here is in a permanent bad mood. It's like they can't deal with things." She complained.

Victor shrugged. "Everyone has their ups and downs. They just have to find the right way to deal with them."

"Exactly! You know, it's easy to get depressed stationed on a hostile world like this, but we do what we can to keep our spirits up." She said.

"Must be tough."

"It is, but, you know," she shrugged, and then smiled. "You know, it's nice to talk about this stuff. It gets pretty lonely up at base. Well, I gotta go soon. I have a shift at base."

"Alright. Well, it was good talking to you." Victor said as he tried to walk away again.

"Wait!" Sarna grabbed him by the arm. "Some of us junior Sith officers are having a party later. I'd really like to see you again. Why don't you drop by the party? I'll show you where it is on your map."

Victor handed her the datapad. She marked the location and handed it back to him.

"Thanks."

"So…see you later?" she asked hopefully.

"Uhhh…yeah. Yeah. Sounds good. I'll be there."

"Great! Don't be late. We start right after our shifts end. We won't even take the time to lock up our uniforms. I look forward to seeing you!" she smiled and walked away.

Victor continued walking until he found an empty table at which he sat down. He was in the middle of flagging down someone to take his order when Carth sat down.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"Getting a drink. Isn't that what we came here for?"

"Wha- No! I'm talking about you flirting with that Sith officer."

"I wasn't flirting. I was conversing. There's a difference." The waiter came back with their drinks and set them on the table.

"Conversing. Sure." Carth raised his pitch to imitate Sarna. "Oh Victor. It's so nice to talk to someone about this kind of stuff. I'd really like to see you again soon. How about you drop by my-" he returned to his normal tone, "SITH INFESTED PARTY!"

Victor laughed and took another sip of his drink. "See? I told you _**I**_ wasn't flirting. Relax man. It should be fine."

Carth frowned. "So you're going?"

"Yeah."

"Are you crazy?"

"No."

"Deranged?"

"No."

"Idiot."

"No."

"I wasn't asking. I was calling you an idiot."

"Thanks." Victor said dryly.

"No problem. So while you're partying, I'll be working on the mission."

"As will I."

Carth raised an eyebrow.

Victor smiled. "Allow me to explain my brilliant plan. I'll go to the party and distract everyone. Meanwhile, you sneak in, 'borrow' a couple of uniforms, and off we go."

"_That's_ your plan?"

"It actually seemed much more elaborate in my head, but that's it."

"It's not bad. It actually might work."

"Mmhmm." Victor agreed as he downed the last of his drink.

"Do you want to talk to Ajuur now?"

"Who's that?"

"The Hutt over the dueling ring. Since we're here, maybe we could arrange something."

"Alright."

They walked around the cantina and into a room full of dueling spectators. Two of them were standing around talking about the upcoming fight.

"Look! They're getting ready to start." the woman said to her friend. The pair walked over to the nearest viewscreen. Carth and Victor did the same.

"Now I hope all your bets are down 'cause we're ready to roll!" the announcer's voice blared. "In this corner, I give you…Gerlon Two-Fingers!" he paused. "And over here, looking to climb the ranks yet again is the ever persistent Deadeye Duncan!"

The fight began. Deadeye Duncan was an older looking man. He seemed to be in his late 70s or early 80s. Two-Fingers was obviously much younger. Deadeye pulled his blaster from its holster and prepared to fire. Unfortunately, it slipped out of his hand and clattered along the floor. He bent over to pick it up. Just as he was standing back up, Two-Fingers fired two quick rounds into his chest. Deadeye fell to the arena floor.

The announcer spoke again:

"And to nobody's great surprise, Deadeye is down…again. Don't worry folks. He's just unconscious. As usual. Our medics will have him up and about in a bit." The announcer laughed. "Well, that was quick, wasn't it?" So I give you the winner…Gerlon Two-Fingers!"

Victor looked at Carth. "And they pay you to do this?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. I'll have to give it a try." He turned to talk to Ajuur before glancing at his wrist chrono. _8:30, he thought, I'd better get going. _He looked at Carth. "We'd better go."

They walked through the city until they found the apartment complex where the party was being held.

"Ah. Here it is." Victor mumbled as he knocked on the door.

Sarna answered it. "Hey, you made it!" she moved to let him in.

He smiled and stepped inside. "Yeah."

"I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show." She handed him a glass. "Here, you have to try this Tarisian ale. It's fantastic!"

"Thanks." He took a sip. "Not bad. Not quite my thing, but not bad."

Another officer walked up. "Careful, Sarna. That wine's got quite the kick."

Sarna brushed him off. "It'll be alright," she said as she grabbed another bottle and began drinking from it, not even bothering to use her glass. She handed another bottle to the officer. He did the same. The music went on blaring and a few of the officers went back to dancing. One of the officers fell to the floor with a loud thud. The rest of them staggered around, laughing. Thirty minutes later, all of the officers were passed out on the floor.

_Not exactly the plan, but this works too…._ Victor thought. He grabbed the first two uniforms that he saw and walked out of the apartment. Carth was standing by the door.

"Well?" he asked.

Victor tossed him one of the uniforms in reply. They found another empty apartment and went inside to put the armor on. Victor got his on pretty easily. Carth…well, that statement didn't really apply for Carth. He struggled to get the jacket over his shoulders. When he finally did, he found that his mobility was quite limited.

_Well, I suppose I can make it work, _He thought, _as long as I don't have to raise my arms…or lower them…or grab my blaster…or…go through any doorways…uhhhh…._

"Victor?"

"Yeah?" He turned to see Carth crammed into the jacket with his arms stuck straight out. He tried hard to hold back the laughter. "Little small, eh?"

"Just a bit." Carth agreed. "Let me ask you something. How many people were at that party?"

"Three excluding me."

"And how many of them were guys."

"Still excluding me? One."

Carth nodded. "I see."

"What?"

"You tossed me a female uniform."

Victor stared at him for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter.

"Yes, yes. Very funny…but seriously. How are we going to make this work? Victor? Oh come on man! It's not that funny!"

Victor finally picked himself up off the floor. "That is too funny." He chuckled.

"Glad you're amused." Carth said dryly.

"Allow me to explain my brilliant plan."

"You know, last time you said that, I wasn't worried. This time…."

"Well, yeah bu—"

"If you're last brilliant plan had completely worked, we wouldn't need this brilliant plan."

"True, but this one will work." Carth wasn't convinced, but Victor continued. "I can pass for a Sith patrol, but you can't. Obviously. If we have any trouble, I'll say that I'm escorting you down to Lower City to sell you to one of the swoop gangs down there…Republic scum!"

"Alright," Carth agreed, as he discarded the jacket, "that sounds pretty safe."

They left the apartment and walked to the elevator. The guard stopped them again.

"Another patrol heading down to the Lower City, eh?" he asked Victor.

"Yep." Victor replied carefully.

"I've heard it's rough down there. There's a big swoop gang war going on, you know."

"I've heard a bit about it. Thanks for the warning."

"No problem. You better watch yourself. Those gangs will take a shot at anyone—even us! Perhaps you could use a shield." The guard laughed as he gestured to Carth.

"Uhhh…yeah. Thanks. Will do. Take care, buddy." Victor said quickly as he moved toward the elevator.

"Yeah. It's just too bad we don't have the man power to just sweep those slums clean."

"Yeah, too bad." Victor repeated, giving the guard a brief nod before entering the elevator. Once he and Carth were safely inside with the door shut behind them, he took off his helmet.

"Lower City sounds like a fun place to be." He said as he began ridding himself of the rest of the Sith armor. It felt good not to have all of that over his clothing. It had been getting pretty warm.

"Loads of fun." Carth commented as he pushed the button. The elevator began to move. They traveled for a few seconds before the elevator stopped. The door slid open. Victor and Carth were both surprised by the sight that greeted them.

* * *

Chapter 3. Hope you enjoyed it. :)


End file.
